Doubt about the content and release of a key report into lockdown-breaching parties within the British government deepened Friday when police said they wanted parts of it to remain unpublished until they finish a criminal investigation. 9News
government deepened Friday when police said they wanted parts of it to remain unpublished until they finish a criminal investigation.
The senior civil servant is probing allegations that the prime minister and his staff flouted restrictions they imposed on the country in 2020 and 2021 to curb the spread of the coronavirus with "bring your own booze" office parties, birthday celebrations and "wine time Fridays." Police have handed out tens of thousands of fines for breaching pandemic regulations since 2020, with miscreants facing a maximum fine of £10,000 pounds .Johnson has promised to publish Gray's report in full and to address Parliament about its findings. He has denied personal wrongdoing and said he has "absolutely no intention" of resigning.
Keir Starmer, leader of the main opposition Labour Party, said the report must be published with "no redactions, no edits, no bits left out." He said the scandal and surrounding uncertainty had left the government "paralysed.""The prime minister cannot be allowed to wriggle off the hook by using the Metropolitan Police investigation as an excuse to further delay or doctor the report," he said.
"The risk of the police intervention this morning is that this leaves things hanging in the air for weeks and months, and that seems obviously not to be in the public interest," he told the BBC.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
'I feel alive': Nadal conquers self-doubt as he chases record 21st majorAfter an injury-marred 2021, Rafael Nadal is feeling rejuvenated as he prepares for his sixth Australian Open final.
Read more »
Covid live: Russian daily cases approach 100,000 in new record; Philippines to reopen to vaccinated touristsRussia sets record daily caseload for eighth consecutive day; people from 150 countries able to enter Philippines again from 10 February
Read more »
Boris Johnson signals intention to tough out ‘partygate’A confident show at parliamentary question time suggests the Prime Minister is betting the public, and his MPs, will absolve him and move on.
Read more »
British PM Boris Johnson refuses to resign over lockdown parties as report loomsMr Johnson, who won the biggest Conservative majority in more than 30 years, is braced for the publication of an official investigation into claims that there were multiple boozy Downing Street parties during lockdowns.
Read more »
Boris Johnson dismisses pet intervention claims ahead of Gray report release
Read more »